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Welsh teenager bucks the trend to leave England for Wales and turn heads
Talented rugby-playing school kids crossing the Severn Bridge to take up scholarships in prestigious English public schools is nothing new.
Back in the 1960s the legendary Sir Gareth Edwards attended Millfield, while in recent years the likes of Taulupe Faletau, Ioan Lloyd and James Botham have all spent time in the English schools system. But 17-year-old Gryff Watkins has bucked that trend by leaving one of England’s leading rugby public schools, Eastbourne College, to further his rugby and general education a Llandovery College.
English-born Watkins, who qualifies for Wales through a grandparent, will represent Llandovery College in the WSC U18 Rugby Conference A final against Coleg y Cymoedd today and is targeting a career as a professional rugby player. “It was a big decision to leave Eastbourne College, a bit of a shot in the dark inspired by my mum," said Watkins, who learned his rugby at Heathfield & Waldon RFC, the first club of former England star Joe Marler.
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"In the end we decided there was no harm in going and it opened up a number of different options for my rugby career. There had been a cut in the funding for rugby at Eastbourne and the rugby programme wasn’t as good as it used to be.
"That certainly influenced my decision because the focus is much more on the rugby here. Even though I was born in Sussex I’ve always supported Wales. That is down to my grandparents and my dad – the dream has always been to play for Wales.
“Coming to Llandovery College has given me a much better chance of becoming a professional rugby player and perhaps achieving that dream. Llandovery is a smaller school in terms of numbers than Eastbourne (630 to 340) and my first thought about moving away from Eastbourne was committing 100 per cent to the switch and getting involved as much as I could in the life of the school.
"The intimacy of the school, along with the rugby, was central to that and it became very easy to bed in and make friends. There were quite a few Welsh exiles who joined at the same time and I’ve become involved in the recruitment process that’s run so well by Wayne Pugh.
"I’ve spoken to a lot of players who want to come to further their rugby education at Open Days and the numbers seem to be increasing.”
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It is a story that bucks an all too familiar trend of top Welsh rugby talent being lured to the likes of Clifton College, Millfield and Hartpury College at the age of 16. For Watkins, as well as a number of others in his team, the move the other way has been a triumph. After his first training session last year the former Wales centre Aaron Warren, one of the specialist coaches at Llandovery College, called director of rugby Nathan Thomas, another former Wales cap, to tell him about Watkins.
"He had something from the start," said Thomas. "He is very explosive while he is a very humble and grounded person who is willing to work hard. He made such a good impression we made him captain this year.
"I don't want to put too much pressure on him but he does have many similarities to Jonathan Davies. He's very fast with a very strong fend.
"There's still lots to work on in his game but there's definitely a foundation there for him to push on and work towards the pro game."
The powerful centre was part of the Scarlets side which won the Regional Age Grade U18s competition last season and is part of their long-term plans while he has also been invited to a Wales U20s training week.
Watkins will line up outside outside-half Carwyn Leggat-Jones on Thursday, another player who is being tipped for big things by both the Scarlets and Wales.
“I’ve spoken to the Scarlets and Scott Sneddon has been very helpful. We’ve talked about me staying in Wales if I go to university so I can stay close to Llanelli," he said. “My brother is at Cardiff Uni and really enjoying it, so that’s an option.
"The good thing is that there is a clear pathway for players of my age. After WSC U18 and RAG U18 rugby there is a step up into BUCS Super Rugby at university and Super Rygbi Cymru.
"There seems to have been a realisation that a focus on youth is the right way to go. That’s why the SRC is so appealing. Last year I played against some of the current Cardiff players like Tom Bowen (Clifton), Steff Emanuel (Millfield) and Sion Davies (Glantaf), and Will Evans (Llandovery) played with me last season.
“The best next step for young players is SRC because of the shift in attitude to give more of them a chance to learn about the senior game. It’s really exciting.”
